Lance Armstrong's former team-mates and associates gave the disgraced cyclist's confession a response that was at best lukewarm.

One of the biggest criticisms of Armstrong was the way he pursued those who dared to criticise him by using his power to affect their businesses, taking court action and insulting them.

Betsy Andreu, the wife of his former team-mate Frankie Andreu, was labelled crazy after she insisted she had heard Armstrong tell a doctor he had doped as long ago as 1996. Greg LeMond, a three-time Tour de France winner, saw his cycle business falter when he fell into dispute with the distributors Trek, Armstrong's sponsors, after he spoke out against doping.

Riders including the American Scott Mercier and the Frenchman Christophe Bassons saw their careers end after refusing to dope.

Betsy Andreu told CNN: "He's not getting it. What about Greg LeMond's bike company that was completely destroyed? What about Scott Mercier not having a career? Christophe Bassons not having a career? Other guys who didn't want to do what he wanted them to do not having a career?

"You can't put a price on opportunity lost and we're not even talking millions of dollars, we're just talking about people who just want to make a living so they can pay a mortgage and save some money after.

"So many people in the saga have been hurt. He hurt the sport of cycling. He caused it irreparable damage. It can't be underestimated how much he has hurt people and I don't think he really understands the emotional toll, the mental toll, the financial toll.

"He has to pay the price, some way, somehow. He's trying to reason this out. He's just not being logical. I think he's being a little delusional."

Tyler Hamilton, a former team-mate who testified against Armstrong, said he believed the disgraced cyclist was 'not 100%" sorry.

He told Sky Sports: "I think he's still a bit confused and not 100% sorry. I think he's in the process of learning how many lives he kind of ruined, or stepped on. It's a sad sight to see him in that condition. He's a broken man.

"But take a positive out of it, he's finally admitted the truth, which was he doped to win all seven Tours. He's finally told the truth."

David Walsh, the Sunday Times's chief sports writer widely credited with much of the investigative journalism which contributed to Armstrong's downfall, and the loser in a high court action brought by the American, said he accepted the apology offered to him in the interview.

He wrote on Twitter: "Oprah pressured him, the apology was, I thought, hesitantly promised. I didn't ask for it, or expect it, but, yes, I accept."